531 

/63a 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  AT  THE 


TWENTY-SECOND  TRIENNIAL  FESTIVAL 


M  ASSACH  USETTS 


Charitable  ^VIechaj^ic  ^^ociatiojn, 


October  21,  1872 , 


BY  HENRY  W.  WILSON. 


BOSTON : 

WRIGHT  &  POTTER,  PRINTERS, 
19  Province  Street. 

1872. 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  AT  THE 


TWENTY-SECOND  TRIENNIAL  FESTIVAL 


OF  THE 


MASSACHUSETTS 

Charitable  ^echa^ic^A^ociatiojn, 


October  21 ,  1872 , 


BY  HENRY  W.  WILSON. 


BOSTON : 

WRIGHT  &  POTTER,  PRINTERS, 
19  Province  Street. 


ALDtN  MAR  2  6  1954 


Mechanics’  Hall, 

Boston,  Oct.  30th,  1872. 

Henry  W.  Wilson,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  am  directed,  by  a  vote  of  the  Government  of 
the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Mechanic  Association,  to  present  the 
sincere  thanks  of  the  Association  for  the  eloquent  and  instructive 
address  delivered  at  the  celebration  of  the  Twenty-second  Triennial 
Festival,  and  to  request  a  copy  at  your  earliest  convenience  for 
publication. 

Iam,  very  truly  yours, 


JOSEPH  L.  BATES, 
Secretary. 


190  Dorchester  Street, 

Boston,  Oct.  30th,  1872. 

Dear  Sir, 

Enclosed  you  will  please  find  the  copy  of  my  address, 
agreeably  to  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Government,  with  many 
thanks  for  the  complimentary  allusion  to  my  unpretending  efforts. 

I  remain,  very  truly, 

HENRY  W.  WILSON. 

J.  L.  Bates,  Esq., 

Secretary,  M.C.M.A. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/addressdelivered00wils_2 


ADDRESS 


Seventy-four  years  ago,  a  little  company  of  twenty-nine 
members  of  this  Association  assembled  in  the  Old  Green 
Dragon  Tavern,  famous  for  its  Revolutionary  associations, 
and  celebrated  what  was,  in  reality,  its  first  triennial  festival, 
as  it  was  its  third  anniversary. 

The  records  state  that  they  ”  sat  down  to  a  well-provided 
table,  and  fared  sumptuously ;  ”  toasts  were  read,  "which, 
being  so  completely  adapted  to  the  occasion,  were  received 
with  eclat,  and  interspersed  with  songs.”  The  sumptuous¬ 
ness  or  economy  of  this  entertainment  can  best  be  appreciated 
when  it  is  understood  that  the  entire  expense  did  not  exceed 
nine  shillings,  New-England  currency,  for  each  person. 

The  Association  had,  at  that  time,  been  in  existence  but 
little  more  than  three  years ;  no  new  members  had  been 
admitted  during  the  year  1798,  although  33  had  been  admit¬ 
ted  subsequently  to  the  signing  of  the  original  constitution, — 
not  all  of  whom,  however,  had  complied  with  its  require¬ 
ments, —  who,  together  with  the  original  83  members,  gave 
a  total  of  116  persons  entitled  to  membership  from  the  first 
formation  of  the  society ;  still,  by  withdrawals,  the  number 
of  active  members  had  been  reduced  to  90.  There  is  no 


6 


record  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  Association  for  that 
year ;  but  at  the  previous  annual  meeting  the  total  funds  in 
the  hands  of  the  treasurer  amounted  to  but  $312^^,  and  the 
secretary’s  salary,  which  had  previously  been  fixed  at  $50, 
was  reduced  to  $20. 

There  was  nothing  at  that  time  in  the  brief  history  of  the 
Association,  or  in  the  promise  of  its  future  prosperity,  which 
could  have  been  flattering  or  assuring ;  originally  intended  as 
a  temporary  means  of  self-defence  against  abuses  incident  to 
the  trades,  it  had  resulted  in  a  consolidated  organization  of 
tradesmen,  which  was  viewed  with  suspicion  and  distrust  by 
the  mercantile  and  professional  classes,  who  thought  they 
saw  in  it  a  combination  to  advance  the  cost  of  all  the  products 
of  labor.  Mechanics,  not  members  of  the  Association, 
looked  upon  it  with  more  or  less  of  jealousy,  arising  from  an 
ill-defined  apprehension  of  possible  adverse  influences  which 
it  might  exert  upon  their  business  or  interests ;  while  even 
its  members  could  hardly  be  said  to  have  dwelt  together  in 
unity.  As  our  chronicler  mildly  states  the  situation,  "the 
society  was  not  at  that  time  a  popular  institution,  and  the 
members  themselves  were  not  in  a  state  of  the  most  peaceful 
harmony.” 

Such  were  some  of  the  discouragements  under  which  our 
predecessors  met,  three-fourths  of  a  century  ago,  and  forgot 
their  embarrassments  amid  toasts  and  songs,  with  the  good 
cheer  of  mine  host  of  the  Green  Dragon.  If  they  could 
make  the  occasion  one  of  feasting  and  rejoicing,  how  much 
more  should  we,  who,  after  such  an  interval  of  time,  witness 


7 


the  results  of  their  small  beginnings,  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
the  tree  they  planted  and  nourished.  The  continued  exist¬ 
ence  of  the  Association,  which  was  then  a  problem,  has  long 
since  ceased  to  be  a  matter  even  of  doubt  or  apprehension. 
Our  membership  has  increased  from  90  to  831  ;  the  ordinary 
annual  receipts  of  the  treasury  have  swelled  from  less  than 
$200  to  $20,000,  and  its  assets,  which  were  but  $300,  now 
exceed,  at  a  moderate  valuation,  $300,000  above  all  indebted¬ 
ness.  Its  disbursements  for  relief,  which  commenced  in 
1799,  by  the  payment  of  $10  ”  to  the  family  of  John  Keith, 
a  deceased  mechanic,  not  a  member,”  have  steadily  grown, 
until  the  distributions  by  the  relief  committee  of  the  past 
year  amounted  to  $4,982  ;  and  although  the  records  are  im¬ 
perfect,  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  total  sum  so 
distributed  since  the  commencement,  amounts  to  more  than 
$60,000. 

The  operations  of  this  committee  are  conducted  with 
marked  fidelity,  and  yet  so  quietly  and  unostentatiously  that 
they  are  often  overlooked  in  the  midst  of  more  stirring  though 
not  more  important  affairs.  The  delicacy  with  which  this 
relief  is  administered  is  equalled  only  by  its  unstinted  liber¬ 
ality  ;  and  a  most  excellent,  though  inadequate  conception  of 
its  extent  and  usefulness  is  afforded  by  the  annual  report  of 
the  committee,  submitted  to  the  Association,  July  10,  1872. 
By  this  report,  it  appears  that  the  whole  number  receiving 
aid,  July  1,  1871,  was  .  .  .  .  .47 

Added  during  the  year,  .....  2 

—  49 


8 


Discontinued,  as  not  requiring  further  assistance,  .  4 

Died,  at  the  advanced  age  of  93  years,  .  .  1 

—  5 

Present  number  of  beneficiaries,  ...  44 

Of  these  there  are,  males,  .....  9 

females,  .  .  .  .35 

—  44 

The  youngest  of  them  is  31  years  of  age,  and  the  oldest, 


93  years. 

Number  between  the  ages  of  30  and  40  years,  .  2 

of  40  and  50  “  .1 

of  50  and  60  “  .  .1 

of  60  and  70  “  .  .14 

of  70  and  80  “  .  .13 

of  80  and  90  “  .  .12 

over  90  years,  ...  1 

—  44 


By  this  agency  the  bounty  of  the  Association  is  bestowed 
with  unsparing  hand  upon  the  aged,  infirm,  and  indigent  of 
our  members,  or  the  families  which  they  may  have  left  to  our 
care.  All  have  seen  better  fortune  in  other  days,  and  man}', 
wealth  and  prosperity.  It  is  our  privilege  to  render  their 
declining  years  comfortable  and  free  from  want,  and  to  pre¬ 
vent  any  member  of  this  Association  from  becoming  a  burden 
at  the  public  charge,  when  broken  in  health  and  fortune. 

There  has  been  paid  to  the  families  of  deceased  members, 


9 


agreeably  to  the  provisions  of  our  constitution,  since  1802, 
when  "  $40  was  paid  to  Peter  Makintosh ,  brother  of  J ohn ,  a 
deceased  member,”  the  aggregate  sum  of  $27,725.75. 

For  educational  purposes  since  1828,  when  $175  was  voted 
to  defray  the  expense  of  a  course  of  lectures,  up  to  the  last 
year,  when  the  sum  of  $1,473.50  was  expended  in  sustaining 
the  apprentices’  school,  there  has  been  paid  more  than 
$30,000,  and  for  the  assistance  of  the  Mechanics’  Appren¬ 
tices’  Library  Association,  about  $7,000  more,  making  a 
total  of  $37,000,  which  is  a  near  approximation  to  the  aggre¬ 
gate  paid  for  the  education  and  training  of  apprentices. 
Minor  sums  for  miscellaneous  purposes  of  a  kindred  nature 
would  swell  the  aggregate  disbursements  of  the  Association 
for  relief  and  education  to  at  least  $100,000. 

This  remarkable  increase  in  material  resources  and  means 
of  usefulness  which  we  now  contemplate,  is  largely,  if  not 
almost  wholly,  the  result  of  the  self-denying  labors  and  good 
management  of  some  who  are  assembled  with  us  here  to-day, 
and  who  have  guided  the  affairs  of  the  Association  for  the 
past  twenty- five  years,  during  which  time  the  most  important 
of  these  results  have  been  achieved ;  and  while  they  can  but 
afford  us  the  liveliest  feelings  of  satisfaction,  still  we  are  to 
accept  and  mingle  with  our  mutual  congratulations,  a  con¬ 
sciousness  of  new  duties  and  enlarged  responsibilities. 

From  a  feeble  and  timid  organization  of  mechanics  who 
wrought  with  their  own  hands,  at  their  several  trades,  among 
their  workmen  and  apprentices,  we  have  grown  to  be  a  cor¬ 
poration  with  large  powers  and  great  wealth,  with  a  prestige 


10 


which  has  never  been  weakened,  and  is  of  itself  a  power, 
composed  of  men  who  singly  control  and  manage  business 
concerns  of  a  magnitude  greater  than  that  of  the  aggregate 
of  all  its  members  in  its  earliest  years.  It  has  combined 
and  represented  the  manufacturing  interests  to  a  very  large 
extent,  and  furnished  almost  the  only  instance,  in  this 
country,  where  a  series  of  general  expositions  of  the  arts  and 
manufactures  have  been  successfully  and  satisfactorily  con¬ 
ducted.  We  have  cared  for  the  distressed  of  our  own 
household  and  their  families,  and  a  great  deal  has  been  done 
—  perhaps  not  all  that  could  or  ought  to  have  been  done,  still 
it  was  all  that  appeared  to  be  reasonable  or  proper  at  the 
time  —  to  aid  in  the  instruction  and  training  of  mechanics’ 
apprentices. 

The  promotion  of  good  fellowship  by  festivals  and  reunions 
has  become  a  recognized  feature  of  our  Association,  and  the 
recurring  seasons  of  enjoyment  are  anticipated  with  pleasure, 
and  do  much  to  preserve  a  fraternal  feeling  among  our 
members. 

But  what  are  some  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
which  are  brought  upon  us,  as  the  consequence  of  so  much 
prosperity  and  the  possession  of  so  many  of  the  means  of 
usefulness?  Let  us  consider  one,  which  was  the  occasion  of 
that  first  meeting  in  January,  1795,  which  was  undoubtedly 
the  germ  from  which  our  Association  has  sprung.  The  call 
for  that  meeting  was  addressed  to  tradesmen,  to  consider  the 
subject  of  securing  legislation  relating  to  apprentices ;  the 
evils  they  proposed  to  remedy,  were  those  incident  to  any 


11 


people  upon  emerging  from  a  protracted  war,  and  endeavor¬ 
ing  to  repair  its  waste  and  destruction, — restlessness,  and 
insubordination  under  wholesome  restraint,  and  unwillingness 
to  fulfil  a  contract  after  its  substantial  advantages  had  been  at¬ 
tained.  We  have  seen  the  same  in  our  own  day,  and  they  were 
doubtless  then  the  more  annoying  because  previously  compar¬ 
atively  unknown.  At  intervals  since,  the  subject  has  forced 
itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  Association  ;  but  there  is  no 
record  of  any  action  taken  or  result  accomplished ;  and, 
with  all  our  achievements,  the  simple  question  which  was 
asked  so  long  ago  is  still  unsolved,  and  the  matter  remains 
in  the  same  uncertainty,  but  in  a  worse  position,  than  it  did 
seventy- five  years  ago.  With  nearly  280,000  persons  en¬ 
gaged  in  the  mechanic  arts  and  manufactures,  less  than  2,500 
0 

are  returned  as  apprentices,  where  there  should  be  at  least 
25,000. 

By  improved  processes  and  inventions,  the  operations  and 
products  of  machinery  have  been  carried  to  a  surprising 
degree  of  perfection,  while  individual  excellence  and  skill 
challenge  our  admiration ;  but  in  those  branches  of  trade 
which  we  may  properly  term  the  domestic  trades,  as  they 
concern  our  domestic  life  and  comfort,  in  the  construction  of 
our  houses  and  the  production  of  their  furniture,  utensils,  and 
appliances,  —  in  these  trades,  the  reduction  in  the  number  of 
careful,  skilful  workmen  has  been  continual  and  annoying. 
The  great  and  embarrassing  want  of  many  of  our  most  im¬ 
portant  trades  to-day,  is  that  of  educated  apprentices,  to  qual¬ 
ify  themselves  to  fill  the  places  that  are  fast  being  vacated 


12 


by  our  journeymen  and  master  mechanics.  The  evils  of 
which  our  predecessors  complained  in  regard  to  their  appren¬ 
tices  were  removed  —  but  it  was  at  the  cost  of  the  system, 
and  by  not  having  any  apprentices  at  all.  The  superior  im¬ 
mediate  inducements  afforded  by  some  departments  of  manu¬ 
factures  ;  the  tempting  allurements  of  traffic  and  speculation  ; 
the  demands  of  our  internal  commerce,  which  has  been  called 
into  existence  during  the  past  generation ;  the  urgent  de¬ 
mands  for  labor,  skilled  or  unskilled,  even  if  it  is  only  physi¬ 
cal  force  directed  by  ordinary  intelligence,  added  to  the 
natural  disinclination  of  young  persons  to  undergo  the  training 
essential  to  proficiency  in  any  branch,  whether  of  science  or 
art,  —  these  causes  have  operated  to  break  down  and  almost 
destroy  the  old  system  of  apprenticeship,  which  must  be  sub¬ 
stantially  revived  again,  if  we  would  not  give  over  all  of  our 
mechanical  employments  to  untrained  and  unskilful  men. 

Our  Association  owes  it  to  itself,  the  community  in  which 
it  has  flourished,  and  the  very  name  which  it  has  assumed, 
that  it  should  aid  in  investigations  and  efforts,  and  cause 
them  to  be  made  to  elevate  the  standard  of  skill,  intelligence, 

i 

training,  and  domestic  comfort  of  mechanics  and  the  opera¬ 
tives  of  our  mechanical  and  manufacturing  establishments. 
We  owe  it  to  those  who  are  to  come  after  us,  that  we  main¬ 
tain  the  standard  of  excellence  in  the  mechanic  arts. 

Our  members  in  their  several  callings  have  been  foremost 
in  urging  on  the  mighty  mechanical  revolutions  which  have 
so  far  distinguished  the  nineteenth  century.  The  application 
of  steam  to  machinery  and  transportation,  and  that  of  elec- 


13 


tricity  to  the  transmission  of  intelligence,  have  produced  a 
concentration  of  population,  and  furnished  the  means  of  sup¬ 
plying  them  to  a  degree  that  is  surprising  and  even  startling. 
The  population  of  the  State  in  1800  was  423,245  ;  in  1830, 
it  had  increased  to  610,408,  by  the  regular  ratio  common  to 
an  agricultural  people. 

At  this  period  manufacturing  was  of  small  or  no  account, 
the  chief  productive  occupations  of  the  people  being  agricul¬ 
ture  and  the  fisheries  ;  and,  although  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain 
the  maximum  amount  of  population  that  a  given  area  will 
sustain  by  agriculture  alone,  still,  in  the  year  1830,  with  a 
population  of  78^^  to  the  square  mile,  which  is  twice  the 
density  of  the  present  population  of  either  of  the  States  of 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  or  Vermont,  Massachusetts  had 
probably  arrived  at  the  stated  point  of  density ;  since  which 
time  all  the  growth  of  her  population,  now  amounting  to 
846,000  persons,  whether  by  immigration  or  natural  increase,, 
must  seek  their  subsistence  by  some  of  the  numerous  branches 
of  artificial  industry  which  the  demands  of  society  and  civili¬ 
zation  have  created. 

By  the  rate  of  natural  increase  from  1800  to  1830,  the 
population  should  have  been,  in  1870,  about  926,000;  the 
difference  between  which  number  and  the  present  population, 
or  531,000,  is  the  increase  since  1830  by  immigration  from 
neighboring  States  or  foreign  countries,  attracted  by  the 
superior  opportunities  for  advancement  afforded  by  our  insti¬ 
tutions  and  our  varied  industries. 

According  to  the  census  of  1870,  the  population  of  the 
2 


14 


State  has  increased  to  1,457,351 ;  of  whom  19,000  gained 
their  livelihood  on  the  sea,  67,550  by  tilling  the  soil,  and 
279,380  by  mechanical  industry,  —  being  an  increase,  in  ten 
years,  of  1,500  farmers  and  farm  laborers,  3,000  mariners, 
and  63,000  engaged  in  manufacturing  pursuits. 

The  annual  value  of  farm  produce  amounted  to  $32,192,378, 
against  $21,556,162  in  1855,  —  an  increase  of  $10,636,216 
in  fifteen  years. 

The  value  of  industrial  products  was  $553,912,568, 
against  $266,000,000  in  1860.  Deducting  the  value  of  the 
raw  materials,  we  have,  as  the  actual  net  profit  of  the  manu¬ 
facturer,  including  wages,  $219,498,586  in  1870,  against 
$125,000,000  in  1860,  —  an  increase  of  $94,000,000,  or 
75ft  per  cent.,  with  an  increased  number  of  mechanics  and 
operatives  of  only  29^  per  cent. 

This  large  and  increasing  army  of  artisans  and  laborers 
is  silently  but  surely  moulding  the  destiny  of  the  State,  and 
changing  the  character  and  habits  of  our  people.  They  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  general  comfort  and  well-being ;  they  provide 
for  our  simplest  wants  and  necessities,  as  well  as  minister  to 
taste  and  refinement ;  the  peace  and  security  of  the  house¬ 
hold,  as  well  as  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  nation ;  the 
development  and  diffusion  of  knowledge,  by  the  means  of  com¬ 
munication  and  transportation  from  one  part  of  the  country 
to  the  other,  are  becoming  more  and  more  dependent  upon 
their  enterprise,  skill,  and  integrity. 

It  is  to  this  swelling  multitude  of  toilers  that  we,  as  an 
Association,  owe  one  of  our  greatest  responsibilities.  They 


15 


are  the  producers,  and  by  their  labor  comes  the  increase.  It 
is  not  a  matter  of  argument  that  success  in  business  depends 
upon  the  manner  in  which  it  is  conducted ;  but  it  is  equally 
true,  that  good  policy  and  sound  judgment  both  dictate  that, 
in  a  manufacturing  community,  every  reasonable  effort  should 
be  made  to  elevate  the  moral  and  social  standard  of  those 
who  toil.  It  will  bring  its  compensation  in  the  additional 
security  of  life  and  property ;  in  an  increased  production , 
and  consequent  gain  in  wealth  ;  and  in  a  greater  stability  in 
the  condition  of  the  community,  which  arises  from  and  gnows 
with  the  general  happiness,  contentment,  and  well-being. 
But  should  that  standard  be  suffered  to  abate,  the  evils  to  be 
precipitated  upon  us  will  be  bitter,  and  our  regrets  unavailing. 

The  developments  of  improved  processes,  and  the  creation 
of  new  branches  of  industry,  or  radical  changes  in  the 
methods  of  business,  will  sometimes  work  temporary  embar¬ 
rassments  and  losses  to  other  interests  or  communities. 

We  cannot  escape  the  inevitable  consequences  if  we  try. 
*We  may  seek  to  control,  we  may  guide  them  somewhat,  but 
the  revolution  goes  on,  and  there  is  nothing  left  for  us  but  to 
abide  the  result,  and  adapt  our  methods  of  life  and  business 
to  the  new  order  of  things. 

Consider  the  case  of  Nantucket,  for  an  example  of  the 
effect  of  the  development  of  new  and  improved  processes, 
and  the  want  of  diversity  in  her  industrial  interests.  Thirty 
years  ago  one  hundred  whalers  were  owned  and  fitted  out  at 
the  island;  to-day,  not  one.  Then,  all  was  bustle  and 
activity  about  her  wharves  and  yards ;  now,  her  wharves  are 


16 


falling  to  decay,  her  factories  and  buildings  have  been  profit¬ 
ably  removed  to  the  mainland.  She  made  whaling  the  one 
pursuit  upon  which  her  prosperity  depended ;  a  few  experi¬ 
ments  in  a  chemist’s  laboratory,  changes  in  the  means  of 
transportation,  and  the  oil  wells  of  Pennsylvania,  have  done 
the  work.  Her  population  has  diminished  fifty  per  cent., 
being  scarcely  more  than  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolu¬ 
tionary  war,  and  all  for  the  want  of  a  varied  industry. 

Out  of  these  considerations,  and  the  ineffectual  effort  to 
comprehend  them,  arise  the  vague  notions  that  prevail  con¬ 
cerning  the  relations  which  ought  to  exist  between  the 
employer  and  the  employe,  or,  as  it  is  incorrectly  stated, 
between  labor  and  capital ;  for  there  is  scarcely  an  employer 
or  manufacturing  company  in  the  State  that  is  not  just  as 
dependent  upon  the  capitalist  as  the  humblest  laborer,  while 
they  are  the  first  and  greatest  sufferers  from  whatever  causes 
create  unnecessary  apprehension  and  alarm.  Upon  this 
question  some  well-meaning  persons,  and  others  whose  inten¬ 
tions  are  not  so  good,  have  for  years  endeavored  to  create  an 
issue  under  the  name  of  Labor  Reform. 

We  cannot  permanently  improve  the  condition  of  any  class 
from  without.  Reforms,  to  be  radical  and  successful,  must  be 
from  within ;  the  application  of  the  remedy  must  be  internal 
and  not  external.  No  legal  enactments  can  effectually  correct 
abuses  which  arise  from  the  prevailing  habits  and  customs  of 
the  people,  and  which  are  not  themselves  amenable  to  law. 
Intemperance  and  vagrancy  will  never  be  removed  from  our 
midst  by  the  operation  of  law,  while  it  is  considered  social  to 


17 


drink  intoxicating  liquors,  and  reputable  to  traffic  in  them  as 
a  beverage.  No  abundance  of  wages,  or  shortening  of  the 
hours  of  labor,  can  be  productive  of  good  to  those  with  whom 
abundance  is  the  incentive  to  extravagance,  and  leisure  the 
opportunity  for  indolence,  license,  or  excess. 

Labor  is  the  normal  state  of  man’s  condition,  and  from  it 
cometh  health,  plenty,  and  peace. 

Whoever,  being  in  health,  labors  not,  is  a  drone ;  yet 
probably  there  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  this  country 
when  there  was  a  greater  disinclination  to  work  at  good, 
honest,  productive  toil  than  there  is  to-day.  The  spirit  of 
unrest  is  deep-seated  and  wide-spread.  It  possesses  both  the 
thrifty  and  the  thriftless  :  the  one  it  urges  to  self-denial  and 
the  sacrifice  of  present  comfort  or  enjoyment,  that,  sometime 
in  the  distant  future,  there  may  be  realized  the  dream  of  an 
existence  without  labor ;  the  other,  while  repining  at  his  own 
ill  fortune  and  the  success  of  his  neighbor,  is  only  stimulated 
to  work  by  his  urgent  necessities. 

The  causes  which  have  led  to  this  state  of  things  are 
various  :  the  convulsions  and  unsettling  of  established  business 
relations,  which  have  been  so  marked  since  the  outbreak  of 
the  Rebellion,  and  were  a  natural  consequence  of  a  period 
of  war  and  unreconciled  peace ;  the  spirit  of  speculation, 
destructive  to  the  spirit  of  industry,  and  which  is  always 
produced  by  an  unsettled  state  of  values  or  credit ;  and, 
lastly,  by  a  general  individual  prosperity,  which  is  more  wide¬ 
spread  than  is  commonly  admitted  or  even  believed. 

But,  whatever  the  causes,  or -whatever  the  influences  they 


18 


may  exert  upon  human  nature,  it  is  the  fact  with  which  we 
have  to  deal,  and  for  which  we  must  devise  a  remedy.  A 
series  of  resolutions  which  were  recently  adopted  by  a 
Labor-Keform  Convention,  commenced  with  this  proposition  : 

"  Poverty  is  the  great  fact  with  which  the  Labor  movement 
has  to  deal.”  This  statement  contains  nothing  new,  as  the 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  poorer  and  destitute 
classes  has  always  been  the  special  solicitude  of  good  govern¬ 
ment  ;  but  it  disregards  in  its  statement  another  great  fact, 
that,  in  this  country,  and  more  particularly  in  this  State,  un¬ 
less  in  exceptional  cases  where  it  is  the  result  of  natural 
causes,  poverty  is  almost  always  the  offspring  of  indolence, 
ignorance,  or  intemperance.  Indeed,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  a  case  of  want  and  destitution,  in  which  the  primary 
cause  was  not  one  of  these  three. 

The  first  is  not  indigenous  to  our  people ;  whatever  else 
may  be  said  of  them,  a  want  of  activity  is  seldom  to  be  laid 
to  their  charge.  Ignorance  is  almost  entirely  an  importation  ; 
and  intemperance,  though  common  to  all  grades  of  society, 
is  more  generally  prevalent  among  the  foreign  population. 

In  1855,  the  number  of  persons  in  the  Commonwealth 
who  could  neither  read  nor  write  was  27,539,  or  2.25  per 
cent,  of  the  population.  In  1865,  the  number  had  increased 
to  50,110,  or  3.95  per  cent,  of  the  population.  This  large 
number  of  illiterate  persons  was  divided  as  follows :  males, 
19,134;  females,  30,976. 

Number  of  American  birth,  including  children  of  foreign 
parentage  :  — 


19 

Males,  .......  1,012 

Females,  ......  961 

-  1,973 

Foreign  born  :  — 

Males, . 18,122 

Females,  ......  30,015 

- 48,137 

Total, . 50,110 

As  the  foreign  population  to  the  American  population  was 

only  20.95  per  cent.,  these  statistics  carry  their  own  con¬ 

clusions. 

Intemperance  is  a  delicate  subject  with  which  to  deal  in  an 
address  upon  a  special  topic,  partly  because  of  the  strong 
feelings  entertained  upon  both  sides  of  the  subject,  when 
agitated  as  a  political  question ;  partly,  also,  because  many 
who  clearly  and  honestly  feel  the  evils  which  flow  from  the 
free  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  yet  have  among  their  pet 
weaknesses  a  lingering  fondness  for  the  "  little  brown  jug.” 
Yet  any  one  who  attempts  to  record  or  proclaim  the  moral 
condition  of  the  mechanic  classes,  as  they  are  to-day,  must 
say  that  all  the  evils  which  they  endure,  combined,  are  not  so 
harassing  or  vexatious  to  our  master  mechanics,  or  so  disas¬ 
trous  and  debasing  to  their  workmen,  as  that  of  intemperance. 

By  a  careful  estimate,  the  total  loss  to  the  community  in 
this  State  alone,  from  the  cost  of  liquor  uselessly  consumed, 
the  loss  of  productive  labor  while  under  its  influence,  and  the 
destruction  of  property  by  its  victims,  amounts  to  nearly 


20 


$15,000,000  annually,  to  say  nothing  of  the  loss  of  life, 
demoralization  of  society  and  business,  suffering  and  des¬ 
titution  of  outraged  families,  which  are  either  directly  or 
indirectly  chargeable  to  the  same  account. 

The  conviction  is  gaining  ground  with  many  who  have 
hitherto  strenuously  opposed  what  they  termed  sumptuary 
legislation,  that  no  branch  of  mechanical  industry  would  be 
tolerated  or  endured,  which  abstracted  five  dollars  from  the 
general  resources  for  every  dollar  which  it  gained. 

This  corroding  evil,  which  is  the  cause  of  more  woe  to  the 
poorer  classes  than  all  other  ills  beside,  must  be  met  by 
kindness,  firmness,  and  vigilance.  We  cannot  entirely  reform 
those  now  under  its  influence,  though  we  must  by  all  means 
save  some,  but  by  precept  and  example  we  must  teach  our 
children  and  youth  to  avoid  those  causes  which  lead  so  many 
to  poverty,  degradation,  and  death. 

I  can  imagine  gentlemen  of  elegant  leisure  and  scholarly 
refinement  looking  out,  occasionally,  from  their  retirement, 
upon  the  scene  of  bustling  activity  which  surrounds  them, 
and,  finding  their  philosophy  unable  to  account  for  the  rapid 
advance  of  manufactures,  population,  and  wealth,  retreating 
to  their  seclusion  with  doleful  but  well-meant  admonitions  at 
the  sad  havoc  which  a  pushing  and  progressing  people  are 
making  with  the  traditional  habits  and  customs  of  the  past 
generation. 

Were  I  one  of  them,  I  could  not  better  express  my  feelings 
than  by  language  like  this  :  "  Where  once  270,000  colonists 
tilled  the  soil  and  faced  the  sea,  are  now  gathered  a  million 


21 


and  a  half  of  busy,  bustling  men,  living  in  cities,  working 
in  factories,  revelling  in  undreamed-of  wealth,  and  struggling 
under  harsh  and  hopeless  poverty ;  a  community  becoming 
more  and  more  sharply  divided  between  those  who  have  and 
those  who  have  not ;  the  responsibility  and  knowledge  of 
government  disappearing  year  by  year  with  the  old  town 
meetings ;  ignorance  and  vice  keeping  steady  pace  with  the 
increase  of  poverty,  while  the  old,  ominous  class-cries  of 
other  lands  and  darker  days  grow  yearly  more  familiar  to  our 
unaccustomed  ears.”  * 

This,  as  a  general  statement,  would  be  sufficiently  startling 
to  arrest  the  attention ;  it  is  highly  rhetorical,  and  reads 
beautifully ;  it  is  euphonious,  and  sounds  elegantly ;  but  the 
plain  man  who  participates  in  these  busy,  bustling  scenes 
would  be  puzzled  to  understand  from  what  point  of  observ¬ 
ation  such  a  picture  could  be  drawn.  One  would  naturally 
infer  that  our  farms  are  being  abandoned  and  going  to  waste, 
that  our  sailors  no  longer  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  while 
the  furnace  and  the  factory  monopolize  all  the  opportunities 
for  toil,  and  furnish  all  the  avenues  to  untold  wealth. 

Such  a  mode  of  statement  is  not  ingenuous  ;  it  exaggerates 
and  withholds  the  truth.  The  prominence  which  the  old  Bay 
State  holds  to-day  in  wealth  and  manufactures  is  the  result 
of  the  same  spirit  of  enterprise  and  indomitable  energy 
which  originally  planted  the  colony  on  these  sterile  rocks,  and 
sent  its  hardy  sons  to  seek  their  fortune  on  the  deep. 


*  Oration  before  the  municipal  authorities  of  Boston,  July  4,  1872. 


22 


Our  farmers,  it  is  true,  are  unable  with  the  ordinary 
methods  and  appliances,  to  compete  with  those  who  till  their 
broad  prairie  farms  of  boundless  fertility ;  but  they  have  re¬ 
duced  the  area  of  unproductive  lands  during  the  last  twenty 
years  by  218,514  acres,  or  17.87  per  cent.  ;  increased  the 
value  of  their  farming  implements  and  machinery  $1,791,295, 
or  55.8  per  cent. ;  and  find  their  annual  products,  by  im¬ 
proved  and  thorough  culture,  increased  in  value  $10,636,216, 
or  49.4  per  cent.  A  generation  ago  this  would  have  been 
called  wonderful  progress  ;  now  it  is  overlooked  in  the  glare 
of  more  glittering  success. 

It  is  true  that  special  manufactures  are  not  a  safe  basis 
upon  which  to  establish  the  permanent  prosperity  of  any 
community,  while  this  would  hardly  hold  with  regard  to  a 
varied  industry  ;  but  the  limits  of  our  State  are  circumscribed  ; 
the  area  of  arable  lands  is  still  more  limited  —  being  less 
than  two  thirds  of  the  whole,  and  the  soil  itself  is  not 
generally  fertile.  In  view  of  these  facts,  no  one  can  for  a 
moment  suppose  that  Massachusetts  could  sustain  any  con¬ 
siderable  population  from  her  own  agricultural  resources ; 
and  as  we  have  already  seen,  she  has  long  since  passed  the 
stated  limit  of  her  population,  since  when  her  increase  must 
be  of  those  engaged  in  industrial  labor,  or  the  State  must 
cease  her  growth. 

But  we  have  found  by  the  statistics  of  the  State,  that  the 
humbcr  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  is  steadily  increasing, 
while  languishing  commerce  and  fruitless  fisheries  have  not 
yet  driven  the  sailor  from  his  ship  on  the  sea  to  the  shop  on 


23 


the  shore ;  waste  lands  are  being  reclaimed,  and  the  unim¬ 
proved  acres  of  the  State  are  thereby  diminished,  so  that 
while  a  largely  increased  attention  must  of  necessity  be  given 
to  the  mechanic  arts,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  is  not  disre¬ 
garded,  but  is  carried  to  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  land. 

The  poor  we  have  always  with  us,  and  their  needs,  if  dis¬ 
tressing,  should  call  forth  our  sympathy  and  assistance. 

No  disgrace  attaches  itself  to  honest  poverty,  which,  though 
sometimes  harsh,  is  never  hopeless,  except  for  the  utterly 
degraded  and  depraved. 

Among  the  coming  glories  of  our  institutions  shines  the 
star  of  hope  undimmed  by  the  deadening  influences  of  caste 
or  class,  which  are  only  cherished  by  the  haughty  and  proud. 
The  honest,  industrious,  contented  poor  of  to-day,  a  few 
years  hence  may  start  their  children  in  life  upon  a  higher 
plane  of  usefulness  and  preferment ;  it  is  the  steady, 
substantial  growth,  generation  after  generation,  that  best 
indicates  true  culture  and  established  society. 

There  are  many  who  rise  suddenly  from  indigence  to 
affluence,  or  from  obscurity  to  prominence,  but  they  are  not 
always  successful,  either  in  adapting  themselves  to  their 
changed  relations,  or  in  retaining  their  wealth  and  influence 
in  their  families.  Fortunes,  suddenly  made,  become  as 
suddenly  broken. 

But  w7here  are  those  lines  so  sharply  drawn  between  those 
who  have  and  those  who  have  not  ?  Thousands  yearly  throng 
to  our  shores,  sunk  in  poverty  and  wretchedness,  escaping 


24 


from  tyranny  and  oppression,  with  the  hope  and  prospect  of 
bettering  their  fortunes  by  joining  the  ranks  of  our  toiling 
classes.  Among  them  are  doubtless  some, — it  would  be 
strange  if  there  were  not,  —  who  bring  with  them  and  sound 
the  loudest  those  "  ominous  class-cries  of  other  lands,”  which 
so  grate  upon  the  ear  of  cultivated  leisure  and  hereditary 
wealth ;  but,  after  making  all  due  allowances  for  these,  it 
will  be  found,  upon  investigation,  that  although  property  may 
be  in  some  instances  largely  concentrated,  it  is  also  greatly 
diffused ;  its  gradation,  from  these  who  have  most  to  those 
who  have  least,  is  as  regular  now  as  it  was  a  generation  ago. 

The  whole  number  of  legal  voters  in  the  State  in  1870  * 
was  262,120;  of  these,  150,488,  or  58  percent.,  paid  more 
than  a  poll-tax ;  in  the  city  of  Boston,  the  rate  was  some¬ 
what  less,  amounting  to  40  per  cent.  ;  of  the  remaining 
111,632,  who  were  assessed  simply  for  a  poll-tax,  there  are 
no  means  of  ascertaining  how  many  of  them  had  their  little 
accumulations  snugly  put  away  at  interest,  where  the  vigilance 
of  the  assessor  would  fail  to  find  them  ;  but  the  savings-banks 
returned  the  number  of  their  depositors  the  same  year  at 
560,000,  with  deposits  amounting  to  $163,000,000. 

Thirty-five  years  of  constant  and  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  very  humblest  and  poorest  of  our  people,  and  twenty- 
one  years  of  active  experience  at  a  calling  which  affords 
continual  knowledge  of  transactions  in  real  property,  have 
impressed  me  fully  with  the  conviction  that  among  the  very 


*  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  made  February  11,  1870. 


25 


humblest  of  the  laboring  classes,  the  acquisition  of  homesteads 
is  steadily  increasing ;  not  abodes  assuming  any  degree  of 
style,  but  houses  plain,  simple,  and  unpretending,  oftentimes 
tasty,  and  far  better  than  their  owners  had  ever  enjoyed  before. 
To-day,  the  class  of  property  most  in  request,  and  yielding 
the  best  and  quickest  returns  to  the  builder,  is  the  small, 
single  house  which  can  be  sold  at  from  $2,000  to  $4,000,  and 
the  supply  is  not  equal  to  the  demand.  Not  long  since  I  had 
occasion  to  lay  off  from  a  large  estate  one  little  lot,  measur¬ 
ing  only  14 1  feet  front  by  46  feet  in  depth,  and  containing 
only  667  square  feet; — yet  upon  this  lot  was  located  a 
dwelling  and  a  stable,  furnishing  a  comfortable  shelter  for 
the  proprietor,  his  wife,  two  grown  sons,  a  horse,  cow,  and 
pig;  the  value  of  the  property  was  perhaps  $500,  and  its 
owner  was  one  of  the  happiest  and  most  demonstrative  of 
men,  and  proud  of  his  homestead ;  frequently,  when  passing 
by,  1  have  seen  him  deliberately  pacing  off  its  narrow  front, 
and  conning  its  boundaries,  as  if  by  some  possibility  encroach¬ 
ments  might  have  occurred,  a's  he  naively  phrased  it,  “  unbe¬ 
knownst  to  him.” 

Go  into  the  humblest  quarters  of  our  cities  and  towns,  and 
you  may  find  whole  streets  of  these  modest  dwellings  of  the 
independent  poor,  not  many  of  them  so  small  or  so  fully 
occupied  as  the  case  I  have  cited,  but  still  so  diminutive  and 
narrow  that  many  a  sympathizing  philanthropist  who  studies 
mankind  downward  rather  than  upward,  wonders  how  the 
family  could  be  accommodated  in  so  cramped  a  space.  My 
youthful  head  was  sheltered  by  such  an  humble  dwelling,  and 

3 


26 


nowhere  have  I  found  a  more  earnest  spirit  of  inquiry  into 
those  matters  that  most  deeply  interest  the  citizen  and  tax¬ 
payer,  or  a  more  conservative  regard  for  the  rights  of  person 
and  property. 

In  no  surer  way  can  we  serve  to  protect  the  community 
from  convulsions  and  political  disorder,  than  by  encouraging 
the  acquisition  of  homesteads  by  the  poor  and  laboring  classes. 
It  is  a  field  that  promises  better  results  to  the  labors  of  the 
philanthropist,  than  stirring  them  up  to  feel  that  their  poverty 
is  a  personal  grievance,  which  can  only  be  redressed  by  sub¬ 
verting  the  rights  of  property  and  obliging  those  who  have, 
to  share  their  goods  with  those  who  have  not. 

The  old  town  meetings  are  disappearing  year  after  year ; 
and  why?  Because  the  people  are  sufficiently  informed  of 
the  principles  of  self-government  to  know  that  a  town  or¬ 
ganization  is  entirely  inadequate  to  administer  the  affairs  of  a 
large  community,  or  to  properly  and  justly  obtain  the  will  of 
its  citizens  upon  those  interests  which  concern  them  most 
deeply ;  those  men  who  will  rally  in  the  strongest  numbers 
to  vote  the  appropriation  for  a  new  engine-house,  district 
school-house,  or  firemen’s  parade,  yield  the  feeblest  support  to, 
and  manifest  the  least  interest  in,  those  great  sanitary 
measures,  such  as  the  maintenance  of  a  water  supply,  or  the 
establishment  of  an  adequate  system  of  sewerage,  —  without 
which  a  dense  population  cannot  long  be  preserved  from 
disease  or  pestilence. 

Ignorance  and  vice  do  keep  pace  with  the  increase  of 
poverty,  but  they  are  the  cause  and  precursor,  not  the  result 


27 


of  it ;  could  they  be  removed,  continuous  poverty  would 
become  unknown. 

We  are  passing  through  social  and  political  changes,  which 
at  any  other  epoch  of  our  national  existence  would  have  been 
considered  crises.  The  shock  of  civil  war  convulsed  all 
grades  of  labor,  and  undoubtedly  produced  many  of  the 
changes  which  have  increased  our  communities  beyond  all 
prediction  or  precedent.  There  still  hangs  over  us  the  burden 
of  debt  which  it  entailed,  representing  simply  the  cost  of  the 
destruction  of  life  and  property,  and  which  by  a  fiction  is 
called  to  represent  money  and  value ;  this  producing  inflation 
and  expansion,  has  brought  increase  of  prices  and  artificial 
wants  to  all  the  laboring  classes,  who,  failing  to  supply 
their  wants,  both  fancied  and  real,  with  the  products  of  their 
toil,  become  restive  and  uneasy. 

Strikes  and  lock-outs,  crimination  and  recrimination, 
aggression  and  retaliation,  follow  in  rapid  succession,  until 
both  employer  and  employe  become  crippled, — the  one  by 
the  loss  of  wages  which  he  can  ill  afford,  the  other  by  inter¬ 
ruption  of  business  and  the  increased  sensitiveness  of  the 
capitalist,  by  whose  aid  alone  he  is  enabled  to  carry  on  his 
enterprise  and  employ  his  operatives.  The  fact  that  the 
manufacturer  is  as  much  dependent  upon  the  capitalist  as  the 
humblest  laborer,  is  lost  almost  entirely  from  sight. 

The  commonly  accepted  statement  of  the  relations  of  labor 
and  capital,  as  they  are  associated  in  business,  has  been 
nowhere  so  concisely  stated  as  in  a  remark  of  Lord  Derby, 
which  is  all  the  more  remarkable  as  coming  from  a  nobleman 


28 


of  a  proud  family,  and  not  generally  credited  with  sympathy 
for  the  laboring  classes.  Said  he,  “  Every  man  has  the 
undoubted  right  to  struggle  for  his  own  success,  at  whatever 
cost  of  inconvenience  or  failure  to  others  ;  but  the  expediency 
or  propriety  of  the  matter  is  a  question  to  be  determined  in 
each  instance.”  According  to  this  theory,  success  would 
undoubtedly  follow  the  possession  of  the  greatest  resources 
or  powers  of  endurance.  Adopt  this  principle  as  the  rule  of 
action,  and  the  propriety  or  expediency  would  be  little 
discussed ;  the  straggle  of  man  against  man,  and  interest 
against  interest,  would  be  bitter  and  exhausting ;  the  very 
principle  upon  which  our  social  system  is  founded  would  be 
disregarded  and  violated  ;  man,  thrown  back  upon  his  natural 
rights,  wrould  subvert  the  general  good,  that  his  individual 
benefit  might  accrue.  This  proposition  is  the  basis  of 
Feudalism,  worthy  of  its  aristocratic  author,  and  can  only  be 
construed  to  justify  the  strong  in  a  struggle  against  the  weak, 
which,  whenever  it  occurs,  leaves  the  strong,  stronger  and 
more  arrogant,  and  the  weak,  weaker  and  more  embittered 
than  before. 

This  question  is  aggravated  by  the  injudicious  efforts  of 
the  zealous  and  well-meaning  persons,  who,  with  a  miscon¬ 
ception  of  the  most  delicate  relations  which  the  different 
classes  of  society  bear  to  each  other,  continually  represent 
poverty  as  the  greatest  of  human  misfortunes,  and  an  un¬ 
mixed  evil. 

If  it  be  true,  then  should  the  possession  of  wealth  be  the 
height  of  earthly  happiness  and  the  goal  of  man’s  ambition. 


29 


Not  having  realized  in  their  own  experience  what  it  is  to  be 
even  in  straitened  pecuniary  circumstances,  they  have  un¬ 
bounded  sympathy  for  those  who  do  not  share  in  their 
abundance,  and  suffer  its  expression  to  degenerate  into  a 
morbid  sentimentalism,  which  defeats  its  own  best  aspirations, 
and  begets  only  discontent  and  agrarianism. 

In  the  scarcity  of  positive  information  and  data  from  which 
to  form  just  conclusions,  it  is  obvious  that  errors  will  arise ; 
but  in  the  general  attention  which  the  subject  awakens,  we 
find  our  greatest  encouragement  of  the  ultimate  amelioration 
of  the  condition  of  the  sons  of  toil. 

If  you  will  take  up  the  report  of  the  labor  statistics  of 
this  Commonwealth  for  the  last  year,  and  have  the  patience 
to  examine  it  carefully  throughout,  you  can  scarcely  fail  to 
receive  the  impression  that  everything  in  our  State  that 
pertains  to  labor  is  all  wrong.  Agriculture  languishes,  and 
our  farm  laborers  leave  the  rural  districts  for  the  superior 
inducements  afforded  in  the  manufacturing  towns ;  and  yet 
our  artisans  and  operatives  are  ill-paid,  and  as  poorly 
sheltered. 

In  the  $163,000,000  deposited  in  our  savings-banks  by 
560,000  depositors,  are  seen  no  evident  signs  of  thrift  or 
prosperity.  It  argues  that  as  no  mechanic  or  laborer  can,  by 
any  possibility,  save  $500  in  one  year,  should  one  chance  to 
deposit  so  large  an  amount  in  that  time,  he  is,  of  necessity, 
a  capitalist  or  a  master  mechanic,  and  not  a  laborer  for  wages. 
With  more  than  one- third  of  our  population  having  savings 
on  deposit,  and  three-fifths  in  the  enjoyment  of  sufficient 

3* 


30 


property  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  assessor,  for  taxation, 
it  asserts  that  the  wages  of  labor  are  inadequate  to  the 
support  of  the  laborer  and  his  family.  It  assumes,  that  for 
one  to  gain  and  hold  a  year’s  income  in  reserve,  is  to  take 
himself  out  of  the  laboring  classes,  because  he  is  not  immedi¬ 
ately  dependent  upon  his  daily  labor  for  his  daily  bread, 
which  sufficiently  proves  that  labor  and  poverty  must  neces¬ 
sarily  be  attendant  one  upon  the  other. 

This  report  contains  an  instructive  mass  of  statistics, 
computations,  averages,  statements,  and  suggestions,  drawn 
from  every  imaginable  source,  from  the  census  to  the  celestial. 
Its  records  of  fact  are  a  valuable  contribution  to  industrial 
statistics,  and  the  care  and  labor  bestowed  upon  them  cannot 
be  too  highly  commended ;  but  its  theories  and  deductions 
are  open  to  criticism,  if  not  to  animadversion. 

If  its  tables  of  wages  at  various  times  are  correct,  by 
assumed  and  arbitrary  estimates  of  the  supplies  consumed 
in  the  family,  it  would  appear  that  the  great  mass  of  our 
operatives,  laborers,  and  journeymen  mechanics  have  been 
continually  growing  poorer  and  poorer ;  or,  to  use  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  the  report  (p.  538),  “  The  great  body  of  working 
people,  from  the  date  of  the  organization  of  wage-labor,  has 
only  kept  along  on  a  general  level  with  their  earnings,  —  they, 
however,  barely  paying  their  way,  and  being  oftener  in  debt 
than  out  of  debt.”  Curious  result ;  it  proves  too  much  ; 
the  experience  of  the  community  is  against  it,  and  the  report 
itself,  on  a  previous  page,  tells  us  that  “  Industry  prospers, 
because  so  many  can  afford  to  buy.”  The  testimony  of  every 


31 


grocer,  provision-dealer,  or  trader  in  any  of  the  commodities 
consumed  in  the  family,  is  uniformly  that  the  humble  laboring 
poor,  our  mechanics  and  operatives,  know  better  what  they 
want,  and  pay  better  for  what  they  have,  than  the  classes 
who  call  themselves  genteel.  If  all  the  facts  were  known, 
it  would,  I  doubt  not,  be  ascertained  that  it  is  not  among 
the  laboring  class  alone  that  those  are  to  be  found  who  fail 
to  live  upon  or  within  their  income,  but  oftenest  among  those 
who  live  in  a  more  pretentious  style,  and  who  would  resent 
the  intimation  that  labor  was  essential  to  their  support.  Is  it 
necessary,  in  order  to  show  that  some  classes  of  labor  are 
not  adequately  remunerated  or  provided  for,  to  assert  that 
the  great  body  of  those  below  a  master-workman  have  been 
oftener  in  debt  than  out  of  it,  for  seventy  years ;  thus, 
drawing  the  balance  of  their  support  from  their  neighbors, 
by  compulsion,  and  being  consequently  worse  than  paupers, 
or  hardly  better  than  knaves  ? 

In  a  political  convention  two  or  three  years  ago,  where  the 
labor-reform  question  was  discussed,  it  was  found  that  of 
two  delegations,  consisting  of  nineteen  persons,  all  but  one 
had  served  an  apprenticeship  and  wrought  as  journeymen  ; 
although,  from  small  beginnings  they  had  all  advanced  to  a 
competence,  and  some  to  wealth. 

The  mechanic  arts  of  this  State,  to-day,  are  in  the  hands  and 
under  the  control  of  men  who  began  life  penniless,  who  have 
actually  wrought  their  fortunes  out  of  the  solid  stone,  wood, 
and  iron.  To  the  truth  of  this  statement  scores  who  are 
present  here  to-day  can  bear  me  witness.  But  we  find  no 


32 


enumeration  of  the  multitudes  who  have  lived  and  wrought 
contentedly,  who,  by  frugality  and  thrift,  provided  for  their 
families  comfortably,  on  much  smaller  wages  than  have  been 
pronounced  inadequate,  and  laid  by  something  for  adversity 
and  the  acquisition  of  a  homestead. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  dwell  for  twenty-five  years  in  the 
home  of  a  journeyman  mechanic.  Having  by  years  of  toil  ac¬ 
quired  a  small  property,  he  ventured  into  business  for  himself, 
but  the  commercial  revulsion  of  1840  swept  away  his  sub¬ 
stance  and  left  him  penniless  and  almost  destitute.  Gathering 
together  a  few  of  his  household  goods,  he  took  his  little  family 
and  came  to  this  city,  where,  with  an  income  that  was  at 
first  but  $1  per  day,  which  at  no  time  exceeded  $2.50,  and, 
including  loss  of  time  by  illness  and  want  of  employment, 
did  not  average  $1.50  per  day  for  over  twenty  years,  he  sup¬ 
ported  a  family,  consisting  a  large  portion  of  the  time  of  five 
persons,  comfortably  and  even  generously.  Eight  years  of 
industry  and  economy  enabled  him  to  acquire  the  equity  — 
small,  it  is  true  —  in  a  homestead;  subsequently  he  added  a 
little  plot  of  land  that  he  might  gratify  his  taste  in  the  culti¬ 
vation  of  fruits  and  flowers.  His  wants  were  few  and  simple, 
and  the  care  of  his  garden  furnished  his  favorite  recreation. 
That  unpretending  home  was  the  abode  of  temperance,  con¬ 
tentment,  and  peace ;  there  were  no  envyings  or  grievings  at 
the  goods  or  abundance  of  others,  but,  morning  and  evening, 
the  prayer  of  thankfulness  ascended  to  the  Giver  of  all  good, 
for  his  mercies  and  benefits.  Sickness,  long  and  wearisome, 
came  with  its  heavy  burdens  ;  death,  too,  with  its  bitter  sor- 


33 


rows,  made  its  vacant  places  in  home  and  heart ;  still  arose 
that  father’s  grateful  prayer,  as  he  toiled  steadily  on.  There 
was  another  in  that  household, — a  patient,  careful,  loving 
mother,  —  by  whose  frugality  and  tact  much  was  often  made 
of  little,  and  to  whom  wastefulness  was  unknown.  By  her, 
were  instilled  into  those  young  hearts,  lessons  which  are 
nowhere  taught  so  tenderly  as  at  a  mother’s  knee,  lessons 
which  lead  to  lives  of  usefulness,  and  that  "  faith,  like  an 
anchor  sure  and  steadfast,  which  leadeth  within  the  vail.” 
Encouraged  in  their  studies,  they  made  suitable  proficiency  in 
the  public  schools,  and  were  there  qualified  for  wider  and 
more  active  duties  in  life  ;  but  whether  in  school  or  sanctuary, 
they  were  found  in  their  accustomed  places  with  equal  reg¬ 
ularity. 

In  that  home  the  poor  and  distressed  found  comfort  and 
relief,  and  none  were  turned  empty-handed  away.  Death 
came  at  last,  and  found  that  father  at  his  labor.  Borne  from 
the  bench  to  the  bier,  he  left  a  character  for  temperance,  in¬ 
dustry,  and  integrity,  as  a  precious  legacy,  and  of  him  it 
might  truly  be  said  that,  "without  any  estate  or  gainful  call¬ 
ing,  he  reared  a  *  *  *  family  reputably.” 

To-day,  the  only  survivor  of  that  once  happy  household, 
as  I  look  back  upon  its  scenes  of  peaceful  enjoyment 
and  unalloyed  content,  I  can  truly  and  deeply  feel  that 
success  is  only  comparative ;  that  he  is  the  most  truly  suc¬ 
cessful  who  adds  his  contribution  to  the  productive  forces  of 
the  community ;  gauges  his  wants  by  his  ability  to  acquire ; 
trains  his  offspring  for  a  higher  sphere  of  usefulness;  and, 


34 


dying  in  the  assurance  of  a  blessed  immortality,  leaves  them 
the  tenderest  remembrances  of  a  happy,  cheerful  home. 

Standing  upon  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  on  a  sum¬ 
mer’s  day,  we  see  a  body  of  water  inconceivable  to  the 
imagination,  and  to  be  comprehended  only  by  the  aid  of 
figures,  estimated  to  be  more  than  150,000,000  of  gallons 
per  minute,  —  a  volume  which  would  supply  the  city  of 
Boston  for  eight  days,  — -passing  in  a  moment  of  time,  swell¬ 
ing  grandly  to  the  sea,  bearing  on  its  broad  bosom  at  once 
the  ocean  steamer  and  the  lumberman’s  raft.  How  many 
would  imagine  that  the  sun  and  air,  by  their  unseen  but 
potent  agencies,  were  quietly  absorbing  from  the  surface  of 
the  lakes  which  form  the  sources  of  that  river,  just  twice  the 
quantity  which  so  amazes  us  by  its  immensity  !  We  see  the 
river  to-day,  to-morrow,  or  a  year  hence ;  it  is  still  the  same 
broad,  deep,  rolling  stream,  hurrying  onward  ;  we  do  not  per¬ 
ceive  that  other  river,  greater  in  volume,  which  ascends  on  its 
mission  of  regeneration,  peacetuUy  and  mysteriously  dissi¬ 
pating  into  clouds,  to  soar  away,  until,  distilling  in  gentle 
showers,  it  moistens  the  parched  soil,  gladdens  all  nature, 
and  causes  the  earth  to  give  forth  her  increase.  So,  as  we 
look  forth  upon  the  swelling  tide  of  humanity  struggling 
and  toiling  around  us,  by  all  the  means  we  have  to  estimate 
it,  the  mass  appears  the  same,  but  we  fail  to  appreciate  the 
multitudes  who  have  been  quietly  and  continually  promoted 
to  higher  posts  of  duty  and  broader  spheres  of  usefulness. 

It  is  neither  politic  nor  sensible  to  undertake  or  advocate 
reforms  by  indiscriminately  decrying  established  usages  or  in- 


35 


stitutions  ;  it  is  far  easier  to  embitter  prejudices  than  to  correct 
abuses. 

The  labor  question,  as  generally  agitated,  resolves  itself 
into  a  very  simple  proposition,  —  that  every  one  will  endeavor 
to  procure  the  greatest  possible  return  for  the  least  amount 
of  toil ;  and  unemployed  leisure,  although  coveted  and 
sought,  is  not  desirable  or  advantageous  either  to  the  indivi¬ 
dual  or  to  the  community.  The  cupidity  of  man  will  always 
tempt  the  strong  to  oppress  the  weak,  and  this  is  no  less  true 
of  individuals  than  of  corporations.  The  laborer  is  worthy 
of  his  hire,  and  the  hire  should  be  worthy  of  the  laborer.  If 
the  tenements  furnished  by  individuals  or  companies  to  their 
operatives  are  unsuitable  or  unwholesome  for  habitations,  we 
have  laws  already  which  would  require  their  owners  to  render 
them  habitable  at  once,  or  cause  them  to  be  condemned  and 
vacated. 

There  can  be  no  legal  enactments  regulating  the  duration 
or  compensation  of  one’s  labor. 

Laws  may  punish  dishonesty  and  fraud,  but  they  cannot 
be  made  to  prevent  men  from  driving  hard  bargains  ;  they 
may  confine  the  criminal,  but  fail  to  effect  those  moral  and 
social  conditions  of  life  which,  while  they  promote  present 
gratification  and  enjoyment,  but  too  surely  foster  crime. 
While  men  postpone  repentance  until  the  hour  of  dissolution, 
they  will  disregard  all  duties  which  conflict  with  present  com¬ 
fort  or  accumulation,  even  though  their  failure  should  precip¬ 
itate  us  into  the  direful  consequences  of  domestic  disorder. 
So  wTe,  as  a  community,  may  unconsciously  permit  and  con- 


36 


tinue  an  unnatural  condition  of  the  relations  of  business  and 
industry,  which  may  promote  the  present  prosperity  of  the 
majority,  giving  them  wealth  and  luxury,  while  they  bring 
only  penury  and  privation  to  a  large  minority.  Judged  by 
Lord  Derby’s  philosophy,  this  seems  to  be  right ;  measured 
by  the  democratic  precept,  which  has  caused  so  much  of 
oppression  and  sorrow,  “the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest 
number,”  it  still  holds  good ;  but  tested  by  the  golden  rule, 
which  men  will  yet  find  it  profitable  to  apply  to  all  their 
transactions,  “  do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  others  do 
unto  you,”  and  we  then  realize  that  no  community,  however 
prosperous,  can  afford  to  allow  any  of  the  humblest  of  its 
members  to  suffer  real  or  fancied  grievances  without  doing 
something  to  remove  the  cause.  This  cannot  be  done  by 
any  utopian  schemes  or  spasmodic  labors  of  philanthropy, 
which  are  seldom  made  until  the  time  for  prevention  has 
passed.  The  revolutions  of  society  have  generations  for  their 
cycles,  and  the  philosophy  of  life  can  only  be  understood  by 
comparison  of  cause  and  effect  extending  through  a  long 
series  of  years ;  this  creates  the  necessity  for  records  and 
statistics,  and  that  watchful  observers  should  register  the  ebb 
and  flow  of  daily  life. 

The  general  government  has,  with  wise  provisions  for 
commercial  interests,  detailed  its  signal  corps,  —  men  trained 
to  watch  the  movements  of  the  adversary  in  war,  —  to  note 
the  adverse  movements  of  the  elements  in  time  of  peace. 
Dispersed  all  over  the  land,  they  watch  the  rise  and  fall  of 
the  barometer,  the  moisture  of  the  air,  fall  of  rain,  direction 


37 


and  force  of  the  wind.  These  data  are  recorded  and  concen¬ 
trated  before  an  experienced  observer,  who  is  thus  enabled, 
with  his  practised  eye,  to  see  the  storm-waves  vibrating  over 
the  face  of  the  earth  in  gigantic  oscillations.  Long-continued 
observation  has  shown  him  that  mountain  ranges,  coasts,  and 
valleys  regulate  the  flow  of  the  atmospheric  currents,  and 
direct  the  course  of  storms.  It  is  by  these  means  that  the 
weather  probabilities  are  sent  abroad  to  every  town  and 
hamlet  within  reach  of  a  telegraph  or  newspaper.  We  are 
told  on  the  morning  of  a  crisp  autumn  day  that  cautionary 
signals  are  ordered  at  Buffalo,  and  to  be  discontinued  at 
Milwaukee,  and  that  there  will  be  a  falling  barometer  in  New 
England,  with  milder  weather.  Sure  enough,  the  weather 
grows  warmer  ;  that  familiar  wind  sets  in,  which  the  weather- 
wise  predict  will  blow  up  rain,  and  the  next  day  comes  our 
well-known  south-westerly  storm  :  the  observer  had  watched 
its  progress  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  recognized  its  familiar 
features,  and  could  predict,  with  positive  certainty,  its  rate 
of  progress  and  ultimate  destination. 

This  Association  should  have  its  own  observer,  watching 
the  signs  of  the  times.  Calm,  dispassionate,  free  from 
theories  or  dreams  of  hastening  the  millennium,  he  should 
carefully  observe  the  elements  of  our  social  and  business  life, 
and  its  changes  for  better  or  for  worse.  Accredited  as  our 
agent,  he  would  have  unsurpassed  advantages  to  pursue  his 
investigations  in  fields  that  have  been  and  must  of  necessity 
be  otherwise  closed  to  the  public  eye.  If  this  be  done  lib¬ 
erally  and  conscientiously,  a  few  years  will  give  us  surprising 

4 


38 


results,  and  we  should  soon  have  some  of  the  conditions 
without  which  little  advance  can  be  made  in  solving  the  « 
questions  arising  from  the  relations  of  labor. 

We  must  endeavor  by  all  means  to  cheapen  the  cost  of 
living ;  it  is  better  to  accomplish  this  than  to  raise  the  wages 
to  the  same  extent.  For  this  purpose  our  railway  system, 
now  measuring  1,600  miles  and  costing  $70,000,000,  should 
transport,  at  the  very  lowest  rate,  articles  of  food,  and  those 
who  labor,  when  going  to  and  from  their  employment. 
Everything  should  be  done  by  free  markets  or  similar  meas¬ 
ures,  to  diminish  the  number  of  those  who  stand  between  the 
producer  and  the  consumer,  each  taking  his  profit  without 
adding  to  the  value  of  the  merchandise.  So  reckless  and 
wicked  have  become  the  practices  of  some  of  these,  that  they 
will  wantonly  suffer  half  of  their  perishable  goods  to  decay 
and  go  to  waste,  rather  than  abate  the  price  upon  wThat  they 
sell.  It  is  notorious,  that  loads  and  loads  of  fruit  and 
vegetables  have  thus  gone  to  the  swine  or  the  compost  heap, 
as  the  result  of  some  corner  in  which  the  dealers  in  cabbages 
have  been  emulating  their  prototypes  in  the  corn  or  stock 
exchange. 

The  English  and  German  manufacturers  have  been  suc¬ 
cessfully  trying  the  experiment  of  withdrawing  their  estab¬ 
lishments  from  the  large  centres  of  population,  with  their 
allurements  of  vice  and  dissipation,  to  some  quiet  rural  spot 
where  the  free  air  of  heaven  comes  sweet  from  the  fields,  and 
where  the  landscape  and  garden  furnish  a  continued  pleasure 
to  the  eye.  Habitations  are  furnished  that  are  not  only 


39 


comfortable,  but  attractive  and  home-like ;  amusements, 
which  elevate  and  instruct,  while  they  furnish  wholesome 
diversion ;  lectures  and  schools  for  instruction ;  chapels  for 
devotion ;  hospitals  for  the  sick,  and  a  quiet,  welcome 
retreat  for  the  decayed  and  superannuated,  who,  having  spent 
their  lives  in  toil,  would  otherwise  find  themselves,  by  stress 
of  circumstances,  stranded  upon  the  shores  of  time,  depend¬ 
ent  upon  charity  for  support  in  their  declining  years.  These 
asylums  are  sometimes  supported  by  a  slight  tax  paid  by  the 
operatives  themselves;  at  others,  by  the  proprietors,  who 
regard  them  as  a  part  of  the  reasonable  expense  of  their 
business,  —  not  as  a  charity,  but  arising  from  the  obligation 
to  care  for  faithful  servants  when  overtaken  by  misfortune. 

Participation  in  the  profits  of  business,  based  upon  the 
length  of  service  and  degree  of  application  on  the  part  of  the 
operative,  promises  and  has  realized  the  best  results.  These 
methods  are  susceptible  of  wide  and  useful  application,  and 
are  in  keeping  with  the  character  and  temper  of  our  people. 

The  principle  of  cooperation  among  workmen  themselves 
in  the  conduct  of  mechanical  operations,  has  been  singularly 
successful  in  European  countries,  while  it  has  been  equally 
disastrous  with  us.  This  arises  from  no  want  of  able  men, 
but  from  their  rapid  promotion.  Where  the  opportunities 
for  advancement  are  few,  and  the  depressing  influence  of 
caste  wide-spread,  there  are  to  be  found,  in  the  humblest 
walks  in  life,  men  with  fixed  integrity  of  principles,  and 
great  powers  of  administration.  Such  men  have  been  en¬ 
trusted  with  the  management  of  large  affairs  by  their  fellow- 


40 


workmen  ;  they  have  not  been  impeded  or  over-ruled  by  those 
with  more  zeal  than  knowledge,  and  they  have  made  the 
cooperative  stores  and  factories  of  Great  Britain  commercial 
powers,  and  are  furnishing  timely  relief  to  thousands  of  their 
fellow-workmen . 

In  this  country  the  change  is  manifest ;  every  man  imagines 
that  he  is  a  born  leader ;  wdiere  there  should  be  one  head, 
two  hands,  and  two  feet,  they  would  have  four  heads,  one 
hand,  and  no  feet ;  they  object  to  a  menial  duty,  because 
that  is  degrading  The  result  has  been  witnessed.  Nearly 
thirty  years  ago  a  vigorous  effort  was  made  to  establish  co¬ 
operative  stores,  under  the  name  of  the  New-England  Pro¬ 
tective  Unions ;  they  were  started  as  associations,  with  just 
enough  of  secrecy  to  make  them  fascinating  and  attractive. 
There  were  not  so  many  Masons,  Odd-Fellows,  Sons-of- 
Temperance,  Good-Templars,  Native- Americans,  Leagues, 
Orders,  and  Knights  as  there  are  to-day,  and  the  societies 
spread  rapidly  and  flourished  greatly.  From  their  contri¬ 
butions  and  assessments  they  formed  a  capital*  purchased 
goods,  and  opened  a  room  on  Saturday  evenings  ;  the  brethren 
issued  the  goods,  at  a  small  advance  above  cost,  to  members’ 
families,  exclusively  for  cash ;  business  increased,  and  they 
enlarged  their  rooms,  opened  them  on  Wednesday  evenings, 
then  Wednesday  and 'Saturday  afternoons,  and,  finally,  after 
a  few  months,  the  store  was  open  the  entire  week,  with  its 
superintendent  and  clerks.  Trade  was  prosperous,  and  the 
membership  and  capital  grew  rapidly.  Soon  the  different 
unions  formed  a  confederation,  chose  a  journeyman  tailor  as 


41 


their  general  purchasing  agent,  and  in  his  little  back  shop 
they  consolidated  their  orders  and  sent  him  into  the  market 
to  buy  their  £oods  on  their  own  account.  Their  selection  fell 
upon  a  good  man,  upright  in  his  dealings,  called  by  the  trade 
a  shrewd  buyer :  his  time  was  soon  so  much  occupied  that  he 
was  voted  a  salary,  which  was  finally  changed  to  a  commission  ; 
a  central  store  was  opened,  and  for  a  few  years  everything 
flourished ;  the  unions  numbered  more  than  one  hundred, 
and  their  annual  dealings  with  the  general  agent  amounted  to 
$1,000,000,  which  was  not  more  than  one-half  of  their  trade. 
Their  prosperity  proved  their  ruin  ;  while  it  was  up-hill  work 
there  was  a  careful  supervision  over  the  agents  and  the  funds  ; 
but  with  success  came  negligence  and  looseness  of  accounts  ; 
the  charge  of  affairs  fell  into  the  hands  of  men  who  always 
managed  their  own  business  to  death  ;  cliques  sprang  up,  for 
where  there  were  three  or  four  irrepressible  parties,  only  one 
could  prevail.  The  inevitable  wire-puller  saw  that  in  an  asso¬ 
ciation  of  two  or  three  hundred  humble  and  inexperienced  men 
was  an  excellent  field  to  ply  his  arts  for  political  purposes, 
and  he  succeeded ;  the  funds  of  the  unions  were  dissipated, 
squandered,  and  stolen  ;  the  societies  broken  up,  many  of  them 
bankrupt,  and  the  members  who  were  personally  liable  took 
charge  of  the  wreck ;  some  were  continued  as  private  stores, 
and  the  general  agent  lost  large  sums  by  his  advances  of 
goods  to  unions  before  they  were  known  to  be  insolvent. 
Gradually  the  whole  system  faded  away,  and  left  him  with 
a  large  trade,  well  established,  and  he  is  to-day  a  prosperous, 
wealthy,  and  respected  commission  merchant. 

4  * 


42 


Twenty  years  ago  a  large  mechanical  establishment  was 
founded  on  the  cooperative  principle  in  this  city ;  its  members 
had  all  the  incentives  that  come  from  self-interest ;  the  officers 
were  men  of  ability,  and  as  much  integrity  as  such  men  will 
average.  The  enterprise  prospered  for  a  time,  until  the 
managers  found  that  they  could  as  well  conduct  a  business 
for  themselves,  for  their  own  exclusive  benefit,  as  to  share 
the  profits  with  others.  Actuated  by  the  universal  law  of 
self-interest,  they  deserted  their  associates,  built  up  a  new 
concern,  and  left  the  old  one  to  languish  and  die  disastrously. 

By  a  law  passed  in  1866,  seven  or  more  persons  were 
authorized  to  form  associations  for  manufacturing  or  trade, 
with  certain  restrictions  and  privileges.  According  to  the 
returns  made  to  the  Secretary  of  State  in  November,  1869, 
there  were  25  such  cooperative  associations,  having  a  total 
capital  and  other  property  of  $190,979.78,  and  liabilities 
amounting  to  $108,909.47.  Some  of  these  have  already 
become  bankrupt,  and  the  law  has  since  been  repealed. 

If  we  would  influence  posterity  most  deeply,  it  must  be 
done  by  the  instruction  of  the  young.  We  have  teaching 
and  instruction  enough  in  our  public  schools.  We  want  in 
addition,  training  and  culture,  —  that  matter-of-fact  kind  of 
knowledge  which  guided  our  fathers  with  its  unerring  truth, 
and  without  which  even  great  scientific  attainments  and  tech¬ 
nical  proficiency  become  unwieldy  and  plague  their  possessors. 

No  amount  of  knowledge  can  be  made  practically  useful 
in  the  business  of  life,  that  is  not  based  upon  a  good,  sound 
substratum  of  common  sense.  Confused  by  too  much  learn- 


43 


ing,  men  are  every  day  working  out  the  most  absurd  conclu¬ 
sions,  which  a  little  practical  judgment  or  experience  would 
demonstrate  in  a  moment.  I  find  it  to  be  no  uncommon 
thing,  and  not  considered  discreditable  among  the  graduates 
of  our  higher  institutes  and  schools,  to  offer  it  as  an  excuse 
for  not  comprehending  either  some  new  problem  or  a  novel 
combination  of  old  ones,  “that  they  did  not  study  that  at 
school,”  or  had  only  learned  it  to  be  forgotten. 

We  must  train  the  young  to  habits  of  independent  thought 
and  careful  observation  of  the  physical  and  social  conditions 
which  surround  them.  Burdened  with  unmanageable  learn¬ 
ing,  they  degenerate  -into  abstract  theorists  or  visionary 
schemers.  We  must  teach  them  self-respect ;  not  that  inso¬ 
lent  assurance,  which,  in  the  language  of  the  street,  is  aptly 
called  “  cheek,”  but  that  conscious  dignity  which  becomes  a 
freeman  invested  with  the  proudest  privileges  which  the 
world  has  ever  known. 

With  the  rapid  increase  of  numbers,  comes  a  corresponding 
decrease  of  the  ratio  of  the  individual  to  the  whole ;  it  entails 
the  deadening  effect  of  conscious  insignificance,  which  con¬ 
tinually  counteracts  that  confident  self-reliance  which  is  as 
essential  in  working  out  one’s  fortune  as  any  other  element 
of  character,  or  skill  in  handicraft. 

Encourage  the  children  to  be  useful  and  industrious  ;  show 
them  how  to  live,  and  you  have  secured  the  happiness  of  the 
next  generation.  There  is  more  in  the  art  of  living  than  is 
generally  thought  of.  In  this  country  abundance  and  plenty 
have  engendered  wastefulness  and  extravagance.  A  French 


44 


or  German  family  will  subsist  comfortably  on  what  is  wasted 
in  many  of  our  homes,  and  would  fare  sumptuously  where 
American  families  consider  themselves  stinted,  if  not  starved. 
This  art  of  living  is  better  understood  by  some  than  by 
others,  and  is  the  true  secret  of  many  an  individual  success. 

Encourage  honesty,  because  it  is  the  better  principle.  If 
it  is  inculcated  as  the  best  policy,  the  tempter  invariably  de¬ 
bates  the  policy  just  when  and  where  it  is  most  alluring,  ar;d 
the  risk  of  evil  consequences  apparently  smallest ;  he  is  an 
artful  debater,  and  too  often  prevails,  to  the  sacrifice  of 
honesty,  family,  friendship,  and  the  future. 

Where  the  river  flows  broad  and  calm,  with  its  shallow 
shores,  there  we  find  a  solitude  unbroken  save  by  the  gun  of 
the  sportsman,  or  the  lonely  cry  of  the  loon  ;  but  where  the 
fall  and  rapid  vex  its  current,  there  .gather  the  busy  throng 
of  workers,  with  the  hum  of  industry,  changing  its  waters 
to  a  perennial  stream  of  wealth  and  prosperity.  I  have 
walked  through  the  busy  streets  of  a  strange  city,  and, 
unacquainted  with  its  commerce  or  sources  of  industry,  have 
wondered  how  and  where  its  swarming  people  gained  their 
livelihood.  The  appearance  of  their  homes  and  children 
denoted  comfort  and  thrift,  but  the  noon-day  bustle  of  its 
streets,  or  the  noisy  clatter  of  its  looms  and  hammers,  failed 
to  impress  me  with  an  adequate  sense  of  the  sources  of 
subsistence  for  so  great  a  multitude.  But  when  I  go  to  the 
warehouses  and  docks ;  wheq  I  see  them  piled  high  with 
bundles  and  bales,  packages  and  cases,  all  gathered  from 
these  various  laboratories ;  when  I  see  steamers,  ships,  and 


45 


barges  loaded  with  merchandise,  and  the  laboring  engine 
drawing  its  long  train  of  burdened  cars ;  when  I  consider 
that  without  manufacturing  industry  and  enterprise,  all  this 
commercial  activity  would  cease,  and  stagnation  brood  over 
all  our  ports,  then  I  get  an  adequate  notion  of  the  magnitude 
of  their  interests  and  sources  of  wealth. 

Thus  is  our  attention  more  engaged  with  the  operations  of 
,  commerce,  because  of  its  greater  apparent  activity,  although 
the  quiet  and  unassuming  labors  of  the  artisan  and  the  me¬ 
chanician,  which  we  so  readily  overlook,  are  all  that  give  it 
life.  We  believe  that  these  agencies  will  ultimately  achieve 
their  perfect  work,  each  with  their  respective  functions 
weaving  the  web  of  life  in  all  its  varied  patterns,  with  its 
peculiar  thread,  until  there  shall  finally  be  accomplished  the 
emancipation  of  the  oppressed,  the  relief  of  the  distressed, 
the  ennobling  of  man,  and  the  glory  of  God. 


46 


THE 

TWENTY-SECOND  TRIENNIAL  FESTIVAL 

OF  THE 


lltassarjmsflis  CjprMIe  Ufotjmnk  Association, 

WAS  CELEBRATED  AT  THE 

Sail,  oq  Jvloqdhy  l<ve:qiq^,  Odt.  21,  18^2. 


The  members  of  the  Association,  with  their  ladies  and  invited 
guests,  assembled  at  half-past  six  o’clock  in  the  large  hall.  The 
Germania  Band  enlivened  the  early  part  of  the  evening,  and  the 
intervals,  with  the  performance  of  choice  selections  of  music. 
The  Temple  Quartette  Club  sang  very  acceptably  a  number  of 
odes,  and  led  the  audience  in  the  following,  written  by  Epes 
Sargent,  Esq.,  for  the  Festival  in  1848. 

ODE. 


God  bless  our  native  land  I 
Prosper  the  toilii  g  band 
Of  every  clime  I 
Bid  all  good  efforts  speed, 

Whether  by  word  or  deed, 

Till  all  mankind  are  freed 
From  want  and  crime ! 

Oh !  if  to  earth  is  given 
One  certain  type  of  heaven, 

One  sacred  fire,— 

’Tis  when  the  kindling  sign 
Of  Charity  divine 
Glows  on  the  true  heart’s  shrine,— 
Glows  to  inspire  1 


Then,  Lord,  our  fathers’  Lord, 
Thy  gracious  smile  accord, 
Thy  Spirit  send  I 
Quicken  our  faltering  zeal, 
May  we,  in  woe  or  weal, 

For  others’  suffering  feel, 

Feel,  and  befriend ! 

We  of  ourselves  are  weak, 

But  in  thy  love  we  seek 
Wisdom  and  might : 

All  that  is  good  in  Art 
Thou  and  thy  works  impart; 
Grateful  be  every  heart  I 
God  speed  the  Right  I 


47 


The  President,  Albert  J.  Wright,  gave  an  address  of  wel¬ 
come,  seasoned  with  much  wit  and  wisdom,  and  the  Rev. 
George  W.  Blagden,  D.D.,  invoked  the  Divine  blessing  upon 
the  institution,  and  prayed  for  its  success  in  every  good  and  holy 
enterprise. 

The  address,  by  Henry  W.  Wilson,  Esq.,  occupied  nearly  an 
hour  in  its  delivery,  and  received  the  marked  attention  and 
spontaneous  approval  of  the  audience. 

A  collation  in  the  lower  (Bumstead)  Hall,  followed  the  services 
above,  and  a  Social  Gathering  of  the  families  of  members  and 
their  friends,  at  which  dancing  was  introduced,  was  held  in  the 
large  hall. 

The  duties  and  the  pleasures  of  the  occasion  were  brought  to  a 
close  at  about  eleven  o’clock. 


